FearTASTIC Vault O’FUN #140
It’s What’s Inside (2024)
Director(s): Greg Jardin
Writer(s): Greg Jardin
Starring: Brittany O’Grady, James Morosini, David Thompson
Whenever a flick is recommended to me rather than discovering it on my own via website/lazy Sunday/perusing streaming apps/etc., the movie ends up having more of an impact on me since it reminds me that although my love for macabre entertainment keeps me up to date with the latest offerings, I can still be surprised once in a while with a movie that perhaps escaped my radar.
A friend of mine, we’ll call him the “Cincinnati Chili King”, was fortunate enough to be in Utah during the Sundance film festival and caught a screening of It’s What’s Inside and proceeded to let me know that it’s the kind of movie that I’d enjoy. At this point, I’ve heard the title before but that’s all I knew of this flick and to be honest, I’m not even sure where I heard/read the title before so for all I know, my mind was just playing tricks on me (as it often does, mischievous little bugger that brain of mine). Months go by and I saw that the movie would soon be coming to Netflix, so I automatically remembered the Cincinnati Chili King’s recommendation which made me more excited to watch the movie. By the time I got to watching the flick, I was joyous on how interesting the movie was based on its creative/original plot and its overall style that made the film not just enjoyable but was just utterly COOL in its execution.
I get that “cool” may not be an ideal word in 2025 but it’s the best way I can describe the feel of this movie. The genre of this movie is fluid which to me, is always a plus because that’s the magic of cinema when you can touch upon many themes that fit into different genres. This flick definitely had strong elements of the macabre so I’ll definitely consider this a horror flick, but the essential plot point can also point to Science Fiction while the dialog and storyline can definitely put this movie as a general murder mystery. With all those elements combined, along with the visuals, the term COOL just seems so fitting.
It’s difficult to describe the plot of this movie without revealing the foundation of the story but I shall try my best as your diligent Vault Master so here it goes; a group of college friends reunite to celebrate an upcoming wedding when one of the friends presents a device that would put into motion a series of events that lead to revealing secrets, betrayal and of course, death. The central plot point of the device was a great way to plunge the characters into absolute chaos and ensured that the audience was invested and captivated with these characters. Although all of them fit into a modern stereotype, like the influencer, the adventurer, etc. it’s really interesting how these characters interact, especially when the past of each character is slowly revealed and how their connections with each other end up doing some serious emotional and physical harm. The script does a great job of keeping the audience invested in these characters because in a way, you can see yourself in one or a combination of these characters and they are pretty relatable as far as the kinds of people we see in today’s world and to have them in a very interesting and dangerous situation, makes you think how you would handle the hectic situations throughout the movie.
The visuals of this movie were very enjoyable and almost nostalgic for me since it effectively utilized vivid colors as part of a plot point that is very reminiscent to the legendary, Italian horror gems from Dario Argento like Suspiria and Inferno. Those movies made an impact to the horror genre with not only their unique story line but their use of vivid colors that felt like exclamation points which helped accentuate the plot and cemented their place as being groundbreaking and stylistic horror movies. In this flick, the use of color is not only stylistic but essential for the audience to understand what is going on in the storyline so if you don’t pay attention to what the colors mean, there is a good chance that you will get lost in the plot. I actually love that aspect about this flick, why not make the audience work a little for the entertainment, right?
The mystery aspect of this story was probably my favorite and definitely most clever part of this movie. Again, without giving too much away of the central plot point, most of this movie has the audience guessing on what’s happening at the moment and what’s happening next. The beautiful part about this plot is that it establishes the character archetypes right away so you have an idea about the goals and incentives each character has going into the storyline but then, once the central plot point is revealed, the rest of the movie has you guessing on what each character will do next (okay, we got through that one, not going to lie, had to burn a good chunk of mental calories thinking of a good way to describe all of this for you folks).
In fear that I’ll reveal more than I want to about this movie, I’ll stop the entry here and urge you folks to check out this flick and be immersed in the COOL vibes that this movie gives out and then perhaps you can go back and read this entry again and appreciate how I was able to describe the flick, without actually giving any spoilers! Yes, give me all the love!
Life is FAR more interesting when we take interest in things that scare us.